Teacher's Aide Arrested for Alleged Drug Dealing

NEWPORT BEACH — A Newport Beach teacher's aide who police say tried to recruit teenagers into a citywide drug ring has been arrested on suspicion of drug sales.

Carl Alfred Johnson, 22, a part-time teacher's aide at Newport Harbor High School, is suspected of selling marijuana to students a dozen times, mostly at parks but at least once on a high school campus, said Sgt. Mike McDermott, spokesman for the Newport Beach Police Department.

Johnson was arrested Tuesday while allegedly selling marijuana to a 15-year-old boy at Bonita Creek Park. Police said they found four grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms and a small amount of the drug Ecstasy in Johnson's pockets. A search of Johnson's Newport Beach home turned up drug paraphernalia and six ounces of marijuana, police said.

Johnson, who has been released from jail on $25,000 bail, faces up to five years in prison on each count of selling drugs to a minor.

McDermott said there is no evidence that Johnson sold drugs while on duty as a teacher's aide.

"He recruited customers by walking up to juveniles at a park and asking them if they had marijuana," McDermott said. "If they didn't, he would ask if they wanted to buy some. Later on, he tried to turn kids into agents. He had at least one teen working for him."

During a weeklong investigation, police say they saw Johnson sell marijuana to a teenager at a swim meet at Corona Del Mar High School, the only time they saw Johnson deal drugs on a campus.